This tells us that Sen. Arlen Specter has written a book about his struggle with cancer and the chemo- therapy treatments that he endured to fight it.I give him credit for sharing his story (his treatments took place in 2005), particularly for the benefit of anyone fighting cancer or any other life-threatening illness. And I can only imagine how difficult his struggle was given his high-profile job (though the confirmation of Hangin’ Judge J.R. took a lot of his time I realize, I don’t see how that was more stressful than anything else he did; I mean, was there ever a doubt Roberts would get the nod?).
And I’m completely serious about everything I just said, by the way – no snark whatsoever. Good for him, and I hope he stays well.
All of that having been said, though, I do have some concerns (based on what you might call the “Patrick Murphy rules” for book publication if you’re a member of Congress based on the recent outcry concerning Patrick’s tome written about serving in Iraq and on Capitol Hill).
One of them concerns any royalties Specter may receive; as noted here, members of Congress can receive a book deal while in office only if they agree to forego a cash advance in favor of collecting royalties from book sales. Has anyone bothered to report on whether or not Specter accepted the cash advance or will collect royalties instead?
Also, Mike Walsh, spokesman for Tom Manion (Patrick’s Repug opponent for the 8th District U.S. House Seat in the November election) had this to say about Patrick’s book deal (and I made the appropriate update from this post)…
...the book is a glaring example of theAnd as Donald Petrille, Jr., past president of the Bucks County Federation of Young Republicans, noted here…freshman congressman'sveteran senator's “misplaced priorities.”
“Here we have the lowest rated Congress in history and[Murphy's][Specter's] priorities are writing a book and, now, publicizing it,” Walsh said. “The people inBucks CountyPennsylvania didn't send him to Washington to write a book.”
Mr. Murphy and I have daughters born about a month apart, yet I do not have the benefit of a $165,000 salary, along with a $100,000 advance on a book deal, with which to pay these onerous taxes (re: Petrille’s largely fictitious numbers concerning tax increases brought to us by the “Democrat” Party in Congress), as he does.Well, since Petrille disclosed Patrick’s salary, I think disclosing Specter’s salary against any projected monies the senator is expected to receive from his book is nothing more than “turnabout, fair play.”
Otherwise, I think we have the makings of a genuine ethics issue here (but as usual, don’t hold your breath waiting for our dear corporate media cousins to report on any of this…because, as we know, all of this is “OK if you’re a Republican”).
3 comments:
This is Don Petrille posting on 9/29/08:
While I appreciate your citing me, once again (I can't believe I missed it six months ago. I guess no one cares about this blog, except ego-maniacs like me who "Google" themselves), once again you get it totally wrong.
Specter received his book advance money before being sworn in, from a well-known Democrat fund raiser and publisher. It was for $100,000, much higher than most first time authors. Large advances are usually reserved for well known people before they publish a memoir. House rules severely restrict the types of monies members may receive, especially when their is a perception that no services are being rendered for the outside compensation. Murphy would have had an ethics problem, had he been sworn in. He was able to sneak in under the while.
Specter was a sitting US Senator when he wrote and published the book, and the advance was disclosed under Senate ethics rules; exactly like Hillary Clinton's book, and exactly like Nancy Pelosi's book.
Please get your facts straight, and don't rely on spin all the time!
I’m going to try and get a few things straight with this. Now we know that Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980 and I believe is the 16th-longest-serving member, and his book was published in March of this year. What on earth do you mean when you say Specter received his book advance money “before we was sworn in”? You even admit that he was “a sitting U.S. Senator when he wrote and published the book.”
Given that, how is it that Specter didn’t “sneak in under the (wire)” with getting his book published before he was sworn in for another session (again, my understanding from what you said, which may be incorrect) but Patrick did? And I’m not going to quibble with you about rules minutiae concerning whether or not a house member publishes a book or a senator does. I only want to know about his compensation even if he didn’t break any rules, because he did this when he was “on the clock” representing us.
And I have two additional points: 1) My understanding is that Nancy Pelosi is House Speaker and does not serve in the Senate, and 2) I am unaware of the existence of “Democrat” fundraisers (along with a “Democrat” Party). Are you perhaps aware of the existence of “Republic” fundraisers (for a “Republic” Party)?
Finally, I will allow you one more comment on this if you so choose and that’s it; I have neither the time nor the desire to get into comment wars over months-old posts. But since “no one cares about this blog,” I’m sure you can appreciate that it won’t be a big loss.
Thank you for publishing the response. I appreciate your spot.
I clearly made a mistake, and didn't proofread before hitting send.
In the second paragraph, I meant to attribute to Murphy. You can see Murphy is referred to in the second to last sentence. The paragraph should read:
"Murphy received his book advance money before being sworn in, from a well-known Democrat fund raiser and publisher. It was for $100,000, much higher than most first time authors. Large advances are usually reserved for well known people before they publish a memoir. House rules severely restrict the types of monies members may receive, especially when their is a perception . . . "
a) I believe this changes the context of the post to reflect the record as it is;
b) My typo clearly hurts my credibility, and I am intellectually honest enough to accept that.
I look forward to your revised resonse.
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